Author
Topic: Do you know what makes me mad? (Read 7249 times)

Do you know what makes me so mad that I just want to slide down a strand of barbed wire butt naked ... and fill the wound with Tabasco sauce!

We're located here in Oklahoma ... and I get a call about a bee problem in North Carolina. Not only does this lady want me to identify the bees in question without pictures or travel ... then she wants me to find someone to kill them today, that's not just located in North Carolina ... but has an area code the same as hers. Then after I try to explain the potentially harmful effects bees can have on someone who might be allergic ... she assures me that they are so docile and gentle, that they have landed on her head without stinging.

I don't mind answering questions ... it looks good on my industry for us to do so, and looks good for my company also. But when we're called to answer questions because of our professionalism, expertise, experiences and industry ... then don't dismiss the information we provide.

I mean ... would you go to your doctor, have them diagnose you with terminal skin cancer which covers 3/4 or more of your body, visible by everyone ... and then tell your doctor that they are wrong?

I can't say it makes me mad, but it frustrates and confuses me. I just got a swarm call and they have already tried to kill them, of course and then they called me... why? Why would I want poisoned bees?

When people spray them, they usually don't know any better in most cases. They believe anything with a stinger can't possibly be good.

We get called out because things either went badly or there are still straggler bees hanging on in some small cluster for dear life, which is truly sad and pathetic.

I made a decision a little while back that these types of people need to be educated more than anyone about all the wonderful things honeybees have to offer.

I always have my camera with me and show them pictures of swarms before and after the shake, educating them on the many reasons why they don't need to spray a swarm, that 99.9% of the time they are quite harmless.

I can't say I make a convert of everyone but I try my best to and always leave a card with my phone number. It also helps to have honey with you and let them sample it.

Even though the situation was grim when I showed up, I actually feel like I've done some good by the time I drive off.

If you are a believer, you know that Christ came into the world for the sinners, get my point?

Now I am wondering JP why there cant be a commercial on TV that plays over and over explaining in detail just the same thing you said. It is truly just a matter of educating people and how to get the message out there big time???

I hope the schools are finally teaching about honeybees. Heck I didn't even know what a honeybee was until I started beekeeping 3 years ago.

To be embarrassingly honest, I didn't know for certain what a honeybee was until I got 6# of them this May! Now I am learning (by watching and reading) about all types of bees and how they fit into it all.

Ignorance is just part of the human condition. It seems like if folks are kindly and graciously taught, they often find it fascinating and maybe would even consider not blasting it with poison!! :roll:

Logged

The pedigree of honey Does not concern the bee; A clover, any time, to him Is aristocracy. ---Emily Dickinson

>>>>Do you know what makes me so mad that I just want to slide down a strand of barbed wire butt naked ... and fill the wound with Tabasco sauce!<<<<

>>>>Then after I try to explain the potentially harmful effects bees can have on someone who might be allergic .<<<<

That is enough to do it for me. A supposedly professional bee person extolling the 1:10,000 chance of bees doing major harm, rather than explaining how docile they are and how important they are. Sounds like a great way to convince them to spray every one they see.

Logged

"Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me . . . Anything can happen, child. Anything can be"

I ended up going to the place since the swarm hadn't left and hadn't died. The guy felt really bad as he had been researching since then and found out a lot about bees. He freaked because all of a sudden his family was in the middle of a "tornado" of bees.

I put two eight frame medium boxes that had bees in them before on a stand at the foot of the tree with a couple of old combs in it and dipped a cotton swab end in my lemongrass essential oil and the other in some queen juice (alcohol with "retired" queens in it) and put the swab on the top bars and put the lid on. Before I even got to the lemongrass oil they were interested in the hive. By the time I got the lid on ten or so were checking it out. In a few minutes there were more. This was noon and I went back to work and called them at 5:30 and the bees had moved into the hive. I went back at dark and picked them up and took them home. Of course I didn't wear a veil or anything while all this went on. It was the easiest swarm catch ever, if I don't count the ones that moved into my empty equipment from time to time.

Alot of people just don't understand and may hopefully act differently after they have been educated.I mean really, how many of use knew anything about bees before we became interested enough in them to take up beekeeping?The average person would have no reason to know that much about them any more than I would know about different races of say...frogs.If you put yourself in their shoes you may have more patience.I get annoyed when people badger (as in rude comments) me about why I keep bees but not the questions about bees, if they are asking questions then they are being educated so I am happy to oblige.I honestly get kind of bewildered when I read some of these posts where people complain about other people not being educated about honeybees, is it taught in school to know the difference between the different species of bees? Is it really considered common knowledge?Before I got interested in beekeeping I only had a vague idea of which type of bee was which, not to sound sarcastic but I was busy with other more pressing matters.How often does the subject of honey bees or any other bees just come up in every day conversations of non beekeepers where they would be expected to have any real knowledge of them?Now while it bothers me when people just randomly spray bees without checking into all their options I try to understand where they are coming from.Fear of being stung by bees or having your children get stung by bees will motivate people to want bees gone as soon as possible at all costs before they really think about it.Lets not forget about the media in all this. How much good press do bees get?It just bothers me when I read some of these posts where people just seem to want to get a crowd riled about the stupidity of the average non beekeeping person.JP is going about things the right way, rather than get mad at people for not being educated, educate them and show kindness.

Let me clear the air about one thing, I'm no saint, it po's me when the initial reaction has been to spray them, I get angry just like everyone else on here, but these people really don't understand honeybees like we do and who else could be better at passing along positive information about honeybees, the do's and don'ts but us beekeepers?

It really is our responsiblity to teach responsiblity to the irresponsible, albeit ignorantly irresponsible nonbeekeeping community.

They are after all just human, just like us. I'm a human being first, a beekeeper second.

Really Jp I thought I heard you called St. Jp somewhere ;) hmm, must have been someone else.

I agree with what you are saying, rather than pick people apart for not knowing something I would like to see us educate people.I just don't expect people to know anything about anything in today's world, its just too unpredictable so I go with the flow and hope I can make a small difference in changing people's perception of things.

I always thought the J in JP stood for Jesus. Are you telling me now that it doesn't? :? That's worse than hearing there is no Santa. :'(

Yes, it's our job to educate the uneducated, in the bee world, anyway. A few minutes of explaining can save many bees in the future.

Logged

"Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me . . . Anything can happen, child. Anything can be"

Wow, JP!!! NICE fish!!! Hmmmm....I dont know if JPs a saint, but in my book, hes pretty cool!I'd let him in heaven if I was God! :)Yeh, I got a call recently about a swarm on a fireplug...by the time I got to it all theres was left was about a cupful of bees.....Somebody took it upon themselves to spray them before I got there....you could smell the raid still in the air! and, originally, the swarm was basketball sized! That was the first time for me to actually see this happen....what a drag....your friend,john